ABSTRACT
On Christmas Day 2001, several hundred workers began an occupation of the headquarters of EMCALI, the public service provider of water, electricity and telecommunications in Colombia’s second city of Cali. The occupation was a response to a government announcement to privatise the company. Thirty-six days later, the workers emerged victorious after signing an agreement to keep EMCALI public. During the occupation marches, strikes, protests and blockades were carried out in Cali by EMCALI workers affiliated to the trade union SINTRAEMCALI, with support from local trade unionists from the region and supporters from the local communities. In Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, towards the end of the dispute, a second one-day occupation took over the headquarters of the government Ministry responsible for implementing the privatisation process, which was defended by local trade unionists from the region. Meanwhile in the UK, regular protests were held outside the Colombian embassy in London, several live video-link ups were carried out between leaders of the UK’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) and workers inside the Cali occupation alongside a range of other transnational solidarity activities, and letters of support and solidarity arrived from all around the world.
